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Huntley hangs on to beat Hononegah

ROCKFORD - Huntley brought home a regional trophy for the first time in four years, and it didn't matter that they had to travel to Rockford to get it.

The third-seeded Red Raiders led for most of the game and survived a late surge to defeat second-seeded Hononegah in a defensive slugfest, 34-30 to win the Class 4A Rockford Guilford regional.

Kamsi Nwogu scored 13 points while Raquel Radermacher and Carley Faulkner added 6 apiece for Huntley (20-13), which won the 10th regional title in school history but the first since 2016.

Huntley will return home to play Dundee-Crown in the Class 4A Huntley sectional at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"It's really good for us because we haven't won in 3 or 4 years, and we've been close the last couple years," said Nwogu. "They're a really good team and that was a good win."

With 1:50 to go, the Raiders held a seemingly safe 31-25 edge in the low-scoring game. But the Indians' Haley Warren made a wide-open 3-pointer.

On the next possession, Huntley was called for a 10-second violation after the officials apparently missed coach Steve Raethz trying to call timeout. Sydney Donaldson capped the possession with a basket and suddenly the lead was 1.

But the Raiders regrouped quickly and iced the game at the free-throw line. Ashley Guazzo made 1 and, after a defensive stop, Radermacher added 2 more with 3 seconds left.

The Raiders kept their composure throughout the late rally.

"We just wanted to get stops on the defensive end," said Sydney Novak. "As a team, we're just focused on getting that and just staying mentally strong in that case because it's easy to get down on yourself, but we just wanted to pick each other up and keep it going."

Alison Murdoch scored 15 points for Hononegah, but just 3 after halftime.

"Our kids did a great job of maintaining their composure in certain situations tonight," Raethz said. "Where Hononegah made a run, I thought our kids just did a great job of sticking to the game plan and what they needed to do. And I thought they really guarded for a full 32 minutes, just played exceptional defense on them."

Huntley's defense really clamped down after halftime. The Raiders held Hononegah to 12 second-half points and forced 10 turnovers in that time.

Except for trailing 2-1, Huntley led most of the first half until an 8-0 that included 2 3-pointers by Murdoch, put the Indians ahead 18-15. A Guazzo 3-pointer and a Radermacher putback got the Raiders back on top at the break.

The teams traded the lead 6 straight times to open the second half, but Nwogu's layup put Huntley ahead to stay at 26-25. The Raiders then held the Indians scoreless for more than 6 minutes at the start of the fourth quarter, but could only build the lead to 31-25.

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